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Sound of My Voice review: Future shock in present tense

Along with Another Earth, which also starred and was co-written by rising talent Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice grounds its science fiction in scarily effective “what ifs” that aren’t completely out of this world.

Star and co-writer Brit Marling, right, with Christopher Denham in a scene from Sound of My Voice. (Fox Searchlight)

Christopher Denham, left, and Nicole Vicius as Peter and Lorna, a filmmaking couple who are out to expose Maggie by way of a hidden-camera documentary, in Sound of My Voice. (Fox Searchlight)

It not only describes the proletarian future shock of Sound of My Voice, but also the continuing cinematic excursions of Brit Marling, the film’s star and co-writer. She’s one of the most interesting new actors and writers to emerge out of Sundance in recent years.

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Along with Another Earth, which also starred and was co-written by Marling, Sound of My Voice grounds its science fiction in scarily effective “what ifs” that don’t require a light year’s stretch of the imagination.

What if a rogue twin planet were to threaten Earth with collision? What if a visitor from the future were to visit to warn us of impending disaster?

These aren’t original concepts, but as presented by Marling and her directors and co-writers (Mike Cahill for Another Earth; Zal Batmanglij for Sound of My Voice), they run deeper than the usual ray-gun razzmatazz.

Sound of My Voice goes one step further, by adding elements of the absurd that almost dare you to dismiss the film out of hand. Yet the opposite occurs: Marling’s penetrating performance leaves you wondering until the very end — and beyond — about her character’s origins and motives.

Marling is Maggie, a white-garbed cult leader in California’s San Gabriel Valley who claims to be from the year 2054. She holds court in the nondescript basement of a hotel, talking to a small group of believers who must first submit to a ritual of blindfolding, cleansing, gowning and a secret handshake that will have you stifling snickers.

Our designated skeptics — and audience surrogates — are Peter (Christopher Denham, Shutter Island) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius, Half Nelson), a filmmaking couple who are out to expose Maggie by way of a hidden-camera documentary.

Serious Peter has the camera hidden in his eyeglasses, and the wireless gadgetry for it in his stomach. He won’t easily swallow Maggie’s claims, but he’ll swallow hardware in the name of journalism and science.

Legend has it that Cleopatra’s alluring voice was the source of her power over men. Not so Maggie, who seems more of a scold and a nag, as she sets out to provoke doubters.

Does she suspect that Peter and Lorna are up to something? Perhaps. The way she zeroes in on Peter, urging him to literally vomit up his unhappy childhood memories, suggests that she’s looking for his weak spots and also trying to make Lorna jealous.

And just when you think Maggie is being deadly serious about her future traveller claim, and that there might be something to her hints of impending apocalypse, she risks sabotaging herself by singing a pop song from the 1990s and claiming it to be from 2054. Does the song become a hit again, decades from now, or is she brazenly shovelling a very large pile of manure?

Batmanglij and Marling take a very spare approach to their filmmaking, as Marling did with Cahill for Another Earth. Special effects are so minimal as to make “special” seem like overstatement, yet they’re creepily effective.

So is the mood shift late in the film when an unusual request from Maggie throws everybody off balance, the audience included.

Sound of My Voice and Another Earth premiered at Sundance 2011, which is where I first saw both films. At the time, Another Earth seemed the more substantial effort.

But subsequent viewings prompt a reappraisal. Sound of My Voice now seems the greater of the two, especially since it’s more of a showcase for Marling’s ice-cool acting.

When you think about it, you could almost view it as a prequel to Another Earth. Even better is the idea, mused by Marling, that it could eventually become part of a trilogy. There’s more to Maggie than meets the eye.

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